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C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 000469
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2019
TAGS: PGOVPRELKDEMPHUMPINRENVRASECBL
SUBJECT: MAS TRAMPLES CONSTITUTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS
REF: A. LA PAZ 386
¶B. LA PAZ 374
¶C. 08 LA PAZ 2569
¶D. 08 LA PAZ 2464
Classified By: A/EcoPol Chief Brian Quigley for reasons 1.4 (b, d)
¶1. (C) Summary: President Evo Morales, his ruling Movement
Toward Socialism (MAS) party, and affiliated social groups
continue to use authoritarian measures to implement a
so-called "democratic revolution," including the initiation
of legal proceedings against Supreme Court President Eddy
Fernandez, a lawsuit against a leading newspaper for alleging
MAS party corruption, a threatened "community takeover" of
both former opposition Prefect (governor) Leopoldo
Fernandez's and opposition Senator Roger Pinto's properties,
continued inaction regarding the violent takeover of former
Vice President Victor Hugo Cardenas' home, and a potential
siege ("cerco") of Congress by MAS supporters to pressure the
opposition-controlled Senate to pass the electoral transition
law. Without Eddy Fernandez, the Supreme Court will not have
a quorum and will be essentially defunct. In addition,
Morales dismissed formal complaints of government attacks on
press freedom and human rights brought before the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights March 20. Morales
continues to aggressively target and persecute those who
oppose his "revolution," including an already-embattled
judiciary, civic leaders, opposition lawmakers, potential
presidential contenders, and the press. End summary.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MAS Threatens to Bring Down Supreme Court
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
¶2. (U) The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the
MAS-controlled lower house of Congress voted March 19 to open
legal proceedQgs against Supreme Court President Eddy
Fernandez for denying or delaying justice, most importantly
in the "genocide" case against former President Gonzalo
"Goni" Sanchez de Lozada. Once the lower house votes to
accept the committee's recommendation, Fernandez will be
suspended from duty, and the twelve-member court will be
reduced to seven active magistrates, one fewer than necessary
for a quorum. Government Coordination Vice Minister Rebecca
Delgado on March 23 said: "We know he has had public and
private meetings conspiring against the executive branch, and
that this has been a pronouncedly political act. He has
political aspirations. Correspondingly, the ethical thing to
do is renounce his position and announce his presidential
candidacy." MAS Senator Ricardo Diaz added that according to
the constitution no new magistrates can be appointed until
the new Plurinational Assembly is seated and passes a law
regarding judicial appointments, which would not occur until
sometime in 2010.
¶3. (U) Opposition leader Samuel Doria Medina criticized the
action, saying: "The government wants to have the judicial
branch, wants to have the (National) Electoral Court, in
order to always win and to not have to respect the laws. It
is important to have separation of powers, to respect the
judicial process because, to the contrary, we are now coming
increasingly closer to an authoritarian government."
¶4. (C) Two other parts of the judicial branch, the
Constitutional Tribunal and the Judicial Council, are already
essentially defunct. The MAS used a campaign of
intimidation, salary cuts, and legal proceedings to reduce
the Constitutional Tribunal from ten members to only one,
where it has remained since the end of 2007 (Reftel D). The
Constitutional Tribunal now has a backlog of more than 3,500
cases. The Judicial Council is in a similar situation, with
only two out of five members (and three needed for a quorum)
and a backlog of over 100 disciplinary cases.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Don't Say That! Morales Sues the Press
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
¶5. (U) President Morales followed up his prior December 10,
2008 public humiliation of a reporter for publishing a story
regarding potential involvement by Morales and Presidency
Minister Juan Ramon Quintana in a contraband corruption
scandal (Reftel C) with a formal lawsuit against the
newspaper itself, leading local daily La Prensa. On December
9, 2008, La Prensa published a story with the headline "Evo
Negotiated Green Light with Contrabandists." Morales publicly
denounced the story and its author, saying "We have this
class of newspapers and of journalists who lie and lie."
Morales directed his administration on March 21 to sue La
Prensa on charges of slander. Local and international NGOs,
including the Bolivian National Press Association, are
backing La Prensa, and the paper itself has published
editorials maintaining its innocence and the factual nature
of the story.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
More (Illegal) Communitarian Justice?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
¶6. (U) Popular radio and television show host Carlos Valverde
reported March 23 that campesinos had met in the city of
Cobija (in the department or state of Pando) and decided to
take the properties of ex-Prefect Leopoldo Fernandez and
opposition Senator Roger Pinto, according to their supposed
"communitarian justice" traditions. Valverde further
reported that Presidency Minister Quintana attended the
meeting. This possible action, which would be in retribution
for Fernandez's and Pinto's alleged involvement in the
September 11, 2008 Pando violence, follows a national wave of
"communitarian justice," including the March 3 beating of
ex-MAS dissident diputada Marlene Paredes' and the taking of
her property, the March 7 violent takeover of former Vice
President Cardenas's home, and the public threat March 11 by
Confederation of Eastern Bolivian Indigenous Communities
(CIDOB) President Alfredo Chavez to "draft (our) own
indigenous law" and "apply communitarian justice on (Santa
Cruz Civic Committee Leader Branko) Marinkovic and (Santa
Cruz Prefect Ruben) Costas" (Reftels A, B).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Meanwhile, No Government Support for Cardenas
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
¶7. (U) More than two weeks after the March 7 "community
takeover" of Cardenas' home that left his wife, son, and
nephew injured and his property ransacked, there has been
little government action to remove the squatters and restore
the property to the Cardenas family. Leading local daily La
Razon reported March 18 that Foreign Minister David
Choquehuanca had received demarches from Great Britain and
the European Union, and that the UN had made a formal
statement deploring the illegal and violent takeover.
Cardenas has publicly requested help from the government, "as
they are responsible for security in the country, to respect
private property" and return his property. Nevertheless,
Choquehuanca maintained the problem was "a community issue."
¶8. (C) In a March 13 meeting with Cardenas' backer and
political strategist Javier Flores, Flores said they "knew
Morales himself ordered this action" and that strong
international pressure had resulted in the government's
subsequent repudiation, in public at least, of the takeover.
"The international community is deaf, dumb, and blind
normally; it is a tragedy it had to come to this, but even
they could not ignore these events. The UN's letter and the
international visits made the difference" in the government's
changed public stance. Flores stressed Cardenas did not want
retribution or for anyone to go for jail. "He just wants his
house back. With the loss of his house, he is losing his
roots as an Aymara community member."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
MAS-Supported Siege of Congress Looms
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
¶9. (U) According to the constitution, Congress is required to
pass before April 8 a law defining the parameters of the
upcoming December 6 national elections, including the
allotment by region of the seats in the lower house and the
number of special indigenous seats. The lower house approved
its version of the proposed legislation on March 23, and the
opposition-controlled Senate is expected to modify the bill
significantly before passing it. MAS-supported social groups
have announced that the Senate has until April 1 to pass the
law, otherwise they will surround the Congress until a bill
is passed.
¶10. (C) The legislation as drafted will meet with significant
opposition in the Senate for a number of reasons. First, the
130 seats in the lower house are supposed to reflect the
country's population, i.e. larger population centers receive
more seats. However, the division of seats has historically
been weighted disproportionately in favor of the western,
MAS-dominated departments despite the rapid growth of Santa
Cruz, and within departments in favor of rural areas over
urban areas. The proposed legislation exacerbates this bias,
which would assist the MAS in its drive to obtain a
two-thirds majority in the Congress (with which in could
amend the constitution at will). Second, the constitution
mandates the 130 seats be divided equally in each department
between direct election (i.e. vote for a specific diputado)
and party vote (i.e. one votes for a party, which later
selects the representative). The legislation as written
violates the constitution by proposing 70 "direct vote" seats
and only 46 "party vote" seats. The remaining 14 seats (to
reach 130 total) are to be set aside to ensure indigenous
representation. However, the number and location of these
"special" indigenous seats is a matter of intense debate, as
the MAS has drafted indigenous district boundaries to their
benefit. Last, as proposed by the MAS, the candidates for
these "special seats" must be approved by closely-allied
social groups such as the Confederation of Eastern Bolivian
Indigenous Communities (CIDOB), which would essentially
ensure MAS representation.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Morales Denies Intimidating Press...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
¶11. (U) President Morales March 17 lambasted a report by the
Inter-American Press Association (SIP) cataloguing an
increase in attacks against the press by Morales, his
administration, and affiliated social groups. SIP reported
they had registered 46 verbal or physical acts of aggression
against members of the media since October 2008, including
Morales "public ridiculing" of the La Prensa journalist
December 10. In response, Morales invited SIP to come to
Bolivia to investigate, saying "Who is the offender here?
Evo Morales, or is the press actually offending Evo Morales,
as the pueblo knows. The press revises stories, and there is
lie after lie. The pueblo knows how they offend us
permanently, but no matter."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
...And Denies Human Rights Violations
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
¶12. (U) Morales similarly rejected charges of human rights
violations made March 20 at the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights (CIDH) by the Lawyers Guild and the Cochabamba
Office of Women's Judicial Rights. Charges included the
dismantling of the Constitutional Tribunal by illegal means,
general impunity of the administration, corruption, a rise of
narco-trafficking, violations of freedom of information and
expression, violations of sexual and reproductive rights, and
violations of the right to health and liberty. Morales
invited the Organization of American States (OAS) to come
investigate for themselves, specifically mentioning Secretary
General Miguel Insulza. "Come see who is violating human
rights," Morales said. He then accused the members of the
Lawyers Guild of being traitors ("vende patrias").
¶13. (C) In a March 24 meeting with Lawyers Guild President
Bernardo Wayar, Wayar told Poloff the Morales administration
was trying to ruin him and the Guild. He said the government
had formally decreed lawyers should not pay for membership to
the Guild, ostensibly to encourage greater access, but really
to economically cripple and therefore silence the
organization. Wayar also noted the CIDH had issued human
rights recommendations in 2006 that the Morales
administration had simply ignored. He said he hoped the
March 20 testimony would lead to a recommendation to the OAS
for formal sanctions against the government. Wayar said he
had been under personal attack by the MAS for months, ticking
off a list of hostile actions including anonymous phone calls
warning his clients to stop working with him and similar
phone calls to his home warning him to stop opposing the
government.
- - - -
Comment
- - - -
¶14. (C) Morales continues to persecute (and in some cases
prosecute) anyone who stands in the way of the MAS drive to
consolidate power, all while staunchly denying any
culpability. Post does not expect Morales to slow in his
domestic quest to quash all perceived opposition, whether
from the press, the judiciary, or potential presidential
candidates such as Cardenas.
URS